Martini Cadet in 32 winchester Special

[brstevns]

Is there anyone that has a Martini Cadet that has been rechambered to 32 Win Spec. ? If so how are you loading for it?

[Outpost75]

Had one for a while, eventually rebarreled. slow twist limitedbullef choice and ejected cases often hung up o.n breechblock. best results with .32-40 equivalent loads with bullets less than 160 grains. I rebarrelled mine to .357 Mag.

[brstevns]

Had one for a while, eventually rebarreled. slow twist limitedbullef choice and ejected cases often hung up o.n breechblock. best results with .32-40 equivalent loads with bullets less than 160 grains. I rebarrelled mine to .357 Mag. Do you remember what the barrel slugged out on it? How much to have one rebarreled?

[John in PA]

Seems .32-20 WCF was the most popular centerfire conversion for those. I'd be a little leery of the larger bottlenecked cartridges in that action.

[HARRYMPOPE]

Had one for a while, eventually rebarreled. slow twist limitedbullef choice and ejected cases often hung up o.n breechblock. best results with .32-40 equivalent loads with bullets less than 160 grains. I rebarrelled mine to .357 Mag.


My experience as well with a 1960's import conversion.The 357 or 32-20 case head makes most sense with them.

[brstevns]

I have been researching what I can find out about the 32 win spec. in the little Martini. It seems that it is safe but kicks bad, gives some feeding problems. Others like me just want to shoot 32-40 type loads. and cast bullets at that. Some day when I get rich I will think about getting it rebarreled.

[swamp]

Is it in origanal conditiion? I would opt to leave it in 310. Or if the barrel is shot reline or rebarrel to 32 Mag. I have two that are all origanal and they are alot of fun to shoot. I don't hunt with them, mostly just plinking.

swamp

[Hooker53]

I had one of these back in the 80's. Why ooooh why did I sell it? I don't know. You let me see another even just the action for sell and it will be mine. Ha. The one I had, I barreled it up for .357 Mag. Loved that thing. All of you that have them, hang on to them. You will regret selling it.

Roy

[brstevns]

It is all original but has been rechambered to 32 win spec before I got it.

[kopperl]

Mine is now a 22 K Hornet,
Still have the dies and some brass maybe a mold and some boolits if any one is interested.

[windy]

i'm still having a lot of fun with mine, using .320 nambu bullets and trail boss for plinkers, an aussie cadet mold and an ideal 32159 with 4759 for 310-equivalent rounds, and some norma .322 159-gr roundnoses at 32-40 speeds for deer. got a 321298 coming from ebay, that'll give me a 140gr-plus for deer. keep the boolits short and the loads light enough to be comfortable and you'll never want to carry anything else in the field. not quite a tack-driver, but then my eyes are decades past their prime, and i refuse to scope the little darling! zero problems with feeding anything up to factory-length 32 specials, zip recoil with the original-speed stuff, and as long as i use 25/35 brass, no problem with headspace/rim thickness. brass lasts forever, and i find half the fun is looking for old molds and load tables for it. i found a barrel in the original configuration; if i'd found an extractor that hadn't been modified i might have returned it to original specs and tried to duplicate the original round, but this is still fascinating me the way it is. win-win situation!
mind yer topknots!
windy

[Ed in North Texas]

Just got my Cadet, perfect condition (which is why I paid too danged much for it). How'd that 32159 mould work out? I have the 32359 version (actually I suspect you have the 32359, I can't find a reference to a 32159) 115 grain boolit plain base. I have the RCBS Nambu mould too.

[curator]

Most Cadet barrels are .310/.319-.321 bore/groove diameter and twist rate of 1 turn in 20 inches. The .32 Winchester Special has a bullet diameter of .321" and both the 150 and 170 grain factory slugs are too long to stabilize in the Cadet's slow twist barrels. They barely stabilize in the .32 WinSpec' 1 in 16 inch twist. With the Cadet's standard load of 120 grain lead bullet at 1250 fps the 1 in 20 twist rate is about optimal. Using a similar slug at the same velocity will work well in one converted to .32 WinSpec where factory loads give poor accuracy and way too much recoil.

[helice]

Those old Martini's are so beautiful. I had one in original condition when I was first married and had to sell it. Got a second one in sporter mode bored out to 357. Sold it too. I miss them. I especially miss the original. It was a honey.

[calaloo]

Ed in North Texas.

Does your Cadet still have the original .310 Greener chamber?

Calaloo

[richhodg66]

I've been messing with an old Marlin lever in .32 Special. I found a Lyman 321297 which will not work, too big as cast and the nose won't let it feed.

I found an old 321232 mold which I believe is a .32-40 bullet. I cast some up this past week and loaded a few last night. It's plain based so I'll have to stick to fairly light loads, but it feeds slick as glass through the rifle. I hope to shoot a few this weekend to see how they do.

I haven't checked, but have heard the older Marlins have tighter bores and quicker twists than most .32 Winchester Specials. Don't know if that's good or bad.

I like those little Martini actions, but that seems like a big round in one. I'd keep loads light if it were me.

[pietro]

.

FWIW, while the recoil's a bit much, the conversion to .32 Winchester Special should include (but often doesn't) alteration of the breech block's top side loading groove (made larger/deeper) so that it's easier to load/eject the larger cartridge/case.


.

[Hooker53]

I have one coming in 32-20. Hope it turned outgo be a good one. I will slug it first be hoping that either a 311419 or a 311316 will work well in it. Curator------ just plain good info there. That's what makes this site so habit forming. Lol. :bigsmyl2:

[Ed in North Texas]

Ed in North Texas.

Does your Cadet still have the original .310 Greener chamber?

Calaloo

Yes, it is completely original. Haven't gotten home to start loading for it yet (on extended vacation with a grandson).

I'll start out with a Lee 7.62 Nagant die set and reform .32-20 brass.

[John Taylor]

I'm building two now, one in 32 S&W and the other in 44 mag. The top of the breach needs to be relieved a bit for the larger rim of the mag so it will clear. The extractor hold the cartridge back a little and the breach hit the rim. Thought about bending the extractor but then it would not work so the breach needs to be taken down a bit.

[Hooker53]

The .44 sounds Interesting. Which barrel are you using and how long are you gonna make it?

[kopperl]

If any of you 32 WCF shooters are interested I found my three die set and 60 live rounds and 20 emptys. Would love to trade them.

[Hooker53]

Hello Kopperl. PM sent on your items. Who is the die maker?

[Goatwhiskers]

John, it is highly recommended that you rethink the .44 in a Cadet. It's been done before and the case diameter leaves you with gosh-awful thin chamber walls due to the shank diameter. As in a lot of cases light loads are OK, but full-blown magnum loads have been known to swell the chamber and distort the frame. Learned this back in the '60's when we were converting a lot of Cadets. The Max case really is about the largest diameter I recommend. GW